


Protect You

by Katybug1992



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: F/M, Female Alexander Kerfoot, Stalking, Women in the NHL, off-screnn past unhealthy relastionship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:08:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25271398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katybug1992/pseuds/Katybug1992
Summary: “I promised I’d protect you, Alexandria.” JT replied, trying to make her understand, “I can’t do that if you won’t let me!”ORFour times JT wanted to protect Alexandria and the one time she needed him to protect her.
Relationships: J. T. Compher/Alexander Kerfoot
Kudos: 15





	Protect You

Alexandria was painfully stubborn and hard-headed. She didn’t like needing to rely on anyone. Which became a struggle when she and JT got together, because he was naturally protective and she insisted she didn’t need protecting.

1.

It’s not like JT didn’t think she could take a hit. But she was 5’10, barely 160 lbs, and Chara just crushed her into the boards.

And he may not have been able to take Chara - EJ had that covered anyway - but he could take one of the smaller Bruins.

And he could make anyone who hit her during the rest of the game pay as well. And he has the penalties minutes to show for it.

What he’s not expecting is the glare she gives him when they get to the locker room when the game ends. She doesn’t say so much as a word to him as she goes about her post game routine - he suspected she purposefully smacked him in the face with her hair after freeing it from the braid it was in.

She didn’t say anything as she gets in the car - the backseat, which is so not her usual seat and Josty looked a little scared as he got into the passenger’s seat. She didn’t say a word when JT puts her favorite of his playlists on. She didn’t say a word as she walked into the house and pointedly slammed her bedroom door shut.

Tyson grimaced and patted JT on the shoulder as he headed to his own room. And JT took a few minutes to give himself a pep talk as he fixed her a mug of her favorite mint tea to bring as a peace offering.

When he knocked on her door, there was a muffled “go away!” but he wasn’t going to let that stop him. His mom always said that a key to a good relationship is to never go to bed angry. Also, he wanted to check on her. The trainer had said she was fine but there had been a pretty nasty bruise on her jaw and JT didn’t think he was imagining that it had gotten bigger from the time they left the rink to the time they got home.

“Alexandria, please, open the door.” JT tried. When there was no sound of movement on the other side, he said, “I made you tea. Your favorite kind. Followed your instructions to the T…. see what I did there?”

“Stop trying to make me laugh when I’m trying to be mad at you,” Alexandria sighed, opening the door to glare at him. 

She was still in her game day dress. JT can see the bruise, dark against her pale skin, “Did you put ice on that? I can go get some if you want?”

“Just get in here and give me my tea.” 

Alexandria took the tea from his hand and moved away from the door, letting him enter the room and close the door behind him, locking it for good measure (Josty had a bad habit of not knocking and even though JT knew he was avoiding the room for the moment, he would prefer that Alexandria not be interrupted in the middle of yelling at him...or killing him).

“I can take care of myself,” Alexandria starts out, sitting on her bed and taking a sip of the tea. He did make it perfectly.

“I know,” JT replied, leaning against the wall, wanting to give her space, “but it was Chara. I mean… you wouldn’t be in this League if you weren’t tough. I know you can take a hit. I’ve seen you take a hit.”

“Then what the fuck was that tonight?!” Alexandria demanded, eyes flashing, “You weren’t playing smart hockey. You could have gotten hurt!”

“I had just seen the woman I love crushed against the boards by a guy three times her size and not get right back up!” JT fired back, “I was scared and I was pissed. Because Chara charged you. I didn’t want anyone else touching you.”

“So you tried to kill half the Bruins roster?” she raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

And JT hated that look. He hadn’t been on the receiving end of it since his first total failure of a flirting attempt.

“I don’t need a knight in shining armor,” Alexandria sighed, “I can take care of myself.”

“Alexandria,” JT breathed out, “I know you can take care of yourself. But...I can’t help that I want to protect you.”

“Because you love me?” her voice was soft but she had a small smile on her face and her eyes had a mischievous spark in them.

JT rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly as he asked, “You caught that, huh?”

“Yeah,” Alexandria grinned at him, taking another sip of her tea, “why don’t you go change and come back in here, okay?”

“You’re not still mad at me?”

“No.” Alexandria shook her head, “but also my face hurts and I just want to go to bed.”

JT crossed the room and pressed a kiss to her head, “I’ll bring an ice pack back with me.”

She caught him before he pulled away and kissed him softly. Pulling back she said, “Thank you for the tea.”

“I’ll be right back.” JT kissed her again before pulling himself out of the room.

2.

They had been walking around Boston, doing the Freedom Trail to satisfy Alexandria’s inner nerd when they ran into him.

“Allie!” a voice called from behind them.

“Shit,” Alexandria mumbled before turning around, blinding media smile in place, “Patrick, hi!”

She hugged the man when he reached them and pulled back as quickly as she could.

“Patrick, these are my teammates, JT and Tyson,” Alexandria introduced, lacing her fingers with JT’s, “Guys, this is Patrick. He and I dated in college.”

“What are you doing here?” Patrick asked her, not acknowledging the two men with her.

“We’re playing Boston tomorrow night,” Alexandria responded, playing with the ends of her hair with her free hand, “and I wanted to walk around the city. I missed it.”

And that wasn’t a lie. Alexandria spent a lot of time in Boston over her four years at Harvard.

“Right. You’re actually doing that hockey thing.” Patrick replied, “I thought I heard about that.”

“Yeah,” Alexandria nodded, “Doing that hockey thing.”

“I got the job the Firm wanted you for.” Patrick replied, “They were disappointed you turned down their offer because of a sport.”

“I turned down their offer because the NHL was always my dream. Not working in a financial firm.” Alexandria defended herself, tightening her grip on JT’s hand when she felt him getting agitated. 

“If you want to get paid to scramble your brain, that’s your prerogative.” he shrugged, “Look, if you’re not busy tonight, maybe we should get dinner, go back to my place. No matter how pissed you were at me, the sex was always good.”

“I was pissed at you for good reason.” Alexandria’s eyes narrowed, “And no thank you. I have a boyfriend.”

“What? Back in Canada or wherever the fuck you play?” Patrick laughed, “What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him, Allie.”

“Don’t call me that.” Alexandria’s eyes flashed and Tyson was actually starting to worry she might kill this guy in the middle of the street. She brought up hers and JT’s joint hands and said, “And he’s right here.”

“I knew you had a thing for sleeping with your teammates. Slept your way through your college teammates and now you’re sleeping your way through your current teammates?” he taunted, pointely trying to get a rise out of JT and she was not about to let that happen.

“You can’t talk to me like that anymore.” Alexandria dropped JT’s hand and stepped forward, placing a hand on his chest to keep him behind her, “I’m not nineteen year fancying herself in love with you. I’m not weak, and scared, and wanting to be the perfect girlfriend you wanted me to be. I know who I am now. And that girl you dated, that girl whose mind you messed with? She’s stronger now. She knows who she is and she knows her worth. So you can say whatever you want about me, but I’m not afraid of you anymore. You have no power over me.”

She let her words sink in for a minute before she turned around and grabbed TJ’s hand and Tyson’s arm, pulling them along the street to their next stop, trying to ignore the fact that she wanted to shake apart.

And, no, she didn’t need JT to protect her demons, she was stronger than she used to be. But being strong was sometimes scary and she was happy to have her boyfriend and her best friend to help her with that fear.

3.

JT always kept half an eye on Alexandria when they went out - he had a sister, he knew that there was shit girls had to worry about that guys didn’t and Alexandria was tiny.

And when she dressed up for nights out, he kept both eyes on her. Because she looked fucking phenominal in crimson and she knew that and she also knew exactly what that dress and those heels were doing for her and to him. Her long dark hard was left cascading down her back and she had stolen his Avs snapback from it and shoved it down on her own head.

Currently she was leaning against the bar, watching the bartender make her drink, when a large man approached her and instantly JT was on edge and ready to get up.

“Sit back down,” Nate hissed, “if she needs help, EJ will step in.”

“She’s my girlfriend.” JT argued.

“Yeah, and ‘Rookie Starts Barfight’ sounds worse than ‘Long Time Av Steps in to Defend Young Rookie’.” Gabe responded as EJ stood up and slowly, casually made his way over to the bar.

Josty had to grab JT as the man put his hand on Alexandria’s waist and step closer to her. She turned her head to look at him, a thunderous expression in place and if JT wasn’t so pissed off he would be a little terrified. Because Alexandria was a storm when she was angry and it was best to seek shelter immediately.

He didn’t know what she said, but the hand was removed and the man was slowly backing away from her, right into EJ - who gave him his toothless glower before he swung his arm around Alexandria and guided her back to the table and to JT. 

“I’m fine.” she instantly said as he wrapped his arm around her waist, “I’m okay.”

“I know you are,” JT replied, “just didn’t like having to sit by and watch, have someone else step in if you couldn’t handle it.”

“I’m a big girl, JT,” Alexandria smiled fondly, kissing his forehead, “I know how to defend myself.”

“I know you do.” JT rested his forehead against hers, “I just worry about you sometimes. I don’t mean to.”

“I’ll let you know if I ever need you be my knight in shining armor,” Alexandria smiled, “Deal?”

“You have to promise.” JT’s voice was maybe more serious than the moment called for.

“I promise.” Alexandria kissed him softly.

Their moment was ruined by Bear throwing peanuts at them.

4.

JT knew she wasn’t as fine as she kept saying she was. Alone in her Toronto apartment. Sure, she got out. He had seen the Snaps. Reilly was helping her to settle in. Hyman and Marner were showing her around. But there was a distinct lack of Bear - in her snaps, in her texts, in their phone calls. 

And she hadn’t lived alone...ever. Not really. Not for an extended period of time. And she was supposed to have Tyson to fall back on when she needed someone.

He had turned down the offer to go out with the team after beating Dallas, hurrying back up to his room to Skype with Alexandria.

“Hey,” he greeted as her face filled the screen.

“Hi,” she smiled softly, lifting her mug of tea to her lips and taking a small sip.

She looked paler than normal, more tired. 

“How are you?” JT asked, “The truth.”

“I’m fine…” Alexandria responded, her voice too soft and she sniffled and blinked rapidly, “It’s just...an adjustment. Morgan helps. Zach and Mitchie try. But… I mean, I know the trade upset Tys a lot and he has his own adjusting he needs to do so I can’t expect him to… It would be nice to have company while adjusting. And no one here calls me ‘Alexandria’ and the correct doesn’t stick so I stop trying. That’s all.”

And JT wanted nothing more than to get on a plane to Toronto as soon as he saw the first tear fall. She apologized and rapidly tried to wipe them away, but the tears kept coming and JT’s heart was breaking for her.

So he did what he could through the computer screen, but he knew it wasn’t enough. Maybe he’d text Hyman or Reilly, get them to go over hers tomorrow, make sure she’s eating because he knows she tends to forget to feed herself when she’s overly stressed or stuck in her head.

They’re about an hour into their call - and her second cup of tea - when JT heard his door open.

“Are both of you dressed!” Josty yells into the room, clearly still in the doorway.

“Yes!” Alexandria calls from the laptop and JT sighs, resigning to sharing her with their best friend for the rest of the night.

‘At least this Tyson gives a shit about her,’ JT hated himself just a little for thinking as Tyson settled on the bed next to JT and immediately started chattering - sprinkling in questions about how much sleep she was getting, how often she left her apartment, when was the last time she ate - and JT smiled to himself as she soaked in the attention, soaked in having someone beside JT caring about her. 

He always may have to talk Gabe about talking to Bear.

But for now he would help her battle the loneliness the only way he could.

+1

Gabe is the one Bear called. And then JT got pulled aside after practice by Gabe, EJ, and Nate and he knew he wasn’t going like it. He was on the next plane to Toronto within an hour. 

When he got to Alexandria’s apartment, the police were there and he found her huddled up in a blanket on the couch between Bear and Reilly.

“What the hell happened?!” JT asked, dropping his bag by the door and kneeling in front of her, checking for any sign of injury.

“You the boyfriend?” one of the detectives directed at JT.

“Yeah,” JT nodded, “what’s going on? Gabe just said someone tried to break in.”

“Ms. Kerfoot’s been dealing with a suspected stalker. We’ve been working with the Leafs organization and we thought it would have been brought to her attention but it doesn’t appear to have been.” the guy held out a stack of photos and flipped through them so JT could see them. There were a ton at games, around Toronto, through windows - including from the apartment across the street from her. But there were also several taken from different road cities. And, the part that sent chills down JT’s spine, there were a number taken from the webcam on her laptop - including several during their less innocent skype sessions, “Early this morning, someone triggered the alarm trying to enter the apartment. We don’t know much -”

“Well, what do you know?” JT asked, standing up, “I’m sorry, but if this has been going on for a while and you don’t know anything about who it is, is she safe here? And why the hell, wasn’t she told?”

“The Leafs didn’t want her to feel unsafe. Every picture was posted on a blog, the poster going through every proxy server they could. Just the photos, no threatening messages - or messages of any kind - accompanying them. At first they thought it was just a fan, because a lot of the first photos were taken at games, but then the others came. If this guy tried to break in, that would be a major escalation. We have a team sweeping the place for bugs and we’ve taken her computer and phone to do security sweeps on them.” He turned his attention back to Alexandria, sounding impatient when he said, “I need you to be honest with me, miss.”

“I already told you,” Alexandria struggled to stay polite and keep herself together as she continued, “I had no idea this was happening. I haven’t noticed anyone strange around. I haven’t received any weird gifts that I can’t explain or don’t know who sent. I haven’t even met anyone not on the Leafs. I don’t look at my mentions because I learned a long time ago that doing that is never a good idea, especially if you’re a girl playing a guy’s sport better than most guys. I haven’t gotten any threats that I know of. I don’t know who is doing this.”

And JT knew she was about to completely fall apart, so he stood her up and ushered her back to her room, shutting the door behind him just in time for her to break. He caught her and lowered her onto bed, letting her cry against his chest as he glared out the window, at the apartment across the street from it. Someone sat in the apartment and took pictures of Alexandria as she changed, as she talked to her mom, as she slept. 

He had never been more grateful for an alarm system and so so so grateful that it scared the bastard away. And the one time since he had known her that she needed him to protect her, he hadn’t. He hadn’t even known what was going on but he still had doubts that even if she had known, she would’ve told him. Because she never wanted to be a burden.

They laid there in silence for a while after she stopped crying, JT still rubbing her back and holding her tightly.

“When do you have to leave?” she asked softly, not pulling away but pointedly not looking at him, just faintly tracinging over his number on his chest.

“I talked to Coach, he said I can miss three games, so between that, the practice days, off days, and Bye Week....” JT replied, “But I’m here as long as you need me.”

“JT…”

“I promised I’d protect you, Alexandria.” JT replied, trying to make her understand, “I can’t do that if you won’t let me!”

“I’m not gonna be much fun to be around.”

“I don’t care.” JT replied, pressing a kiss to her forehead, “All I care about is being with you, keeping you safe. You’re my number one priority. From day one to the end of time.”

Alexandria pulled back enough to look at him, those brown eyes he loved so much shining, “You’re something else, Joseph Taylor.”

JT just kissed her head, whipping around to the door as Reilly and Bear entered.

“There’s gonna be police cars driving by the building regularly,” Bear said, sitting on the other side of Alexandria and placing a comforting hand on her head, “The detective left his card, so if you see or hear anything you have his direct number. I’m gonna make camp on your couch. I know I wasn’t here for you for a while, but I’m all in here now, okay? Like, you’re not getting rid of me.”

Alexandria let out a little laugh at that and Bear beamed.

“I talked to Keefe,” Morgan leaned against the doorway, “you’re excused from next few practices and games, until we know it’s safe for you to leave. Then Kyle called. He’s gonna loop the whole team in, look into getting a bodyguard until this guy caught. Since this is Toronto… there’s already a couple beat reporters who have caught the scent so it’s gonna be a story.”

“Great…” Alexandria muttered in response.

“Alexandria,” Morgan sighed, “the Avs aren’t the only team that cares about. We have your back. Let us have your back.”

“Just… tell them I’m fine.” Alexandria replied.

“I’ll tell them that you need our support.” Morgan rolled his eyes, well used to Alexandria Kerfoot.

A couple hours later, Morgan had left and Bear was set up in her guest room (she refused to make him sleep on the couch), and the exhaustion of the day had caught up with her.

There was still a lot of uncertainty. They still didn’t know who this person was. The story still had to break. They had no idea the motive or how safe Alexandria was to leave the apartment (and, no one wanted to say it out loud, but in the apartment either). And JT wasn’t planning on leaving her side until she felt safe again.

JT watched her slowly fall asleep and tightened his arms around her. He would make sure she was okay - actual okay, not her definition of okay, before he had to leave.

“I love you, JT,” she breathed out as she finally let sleep overtake her.

“I love you, too, Alexandria,” JT kissed her head, “so fucking much.”


End file.
